Congratulations! You made it! You survived and excelled in your student teaching. You are now a science teacher! If you would, take a few minutes to share your wisdom about how to negotiate this difficult year with the students who are following in your footsteps by answering the following questions.
a. What are some things students should do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
Obtain a syllabus/curriculum requirements for all of the classes you are going to be teaching and begin to both brush up on the content and construct lesson plans. Make the most of your observations, meaning get to know your students. This can feel a little intimidating at first but sitting in the corner observing and then taking over the class will spell certain doom for your first few weeks of classroom management.
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
Lesson plan strategies, classroom management strategies, tricks of the trade, and most importantly tips on how to deal with the anxiety/nerves.
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have done a better job during student teaching if I had ...."
Had more experience with classroom management and how to motivate students.
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
Like most secondary education student teachers I was very nervous and experienced considerable anxiety before beginning my student teaching. I feel that I was fortunate enough to not only land in a good school for a placement but to be assigned to a cooperating teacher who knew exactly what to do and say to alieviate my anxiety. In addition to that I began to learn some of the "tricks of the trade" and develop strategies that helped further my understanding of what being a good science teacher entails. There are five major ones that stand out in my mind. The first is simply being organized - paper clips, staples, binders, and folders can go along way and save you a serious headache. Basically, if you aren't organized - you're screwed. The second is the energy you bring to the classroom. This is very important because it shows students that you are comfortable, insterested in your subject, and care about them as learners. To keep your energy level up I would recommend four things: morning coffee (huge), good nutrition (including lots of H2O), exercise, and daily vitamines. The third is to establish yourself and your rules in the first few weeks of class. Due to the fact that you did not have an opportunity to do this in September, continue to enforce your cooperating teachers rules and regulations (this will help you determine your own classroom policies in the future). The students are already used to a certain set of rules - so don't upset the equilibrium. Fourth, establish a good repour with the faculty (your not their to walk around with your head down), especially with those in your content area. This can lead to an invaluable support system from which you can gain things like worksheets, quizes/tests, labs, demonstrations, and awesome lesson plans/approaches to topics. Finally, establish a good repour with your students. Remember that they are people not just empty jars for you to put information into and they have off days just like you do. Show them that you can relate to them, after all you were in their shoes too not so very long ago. Personally, I have found that talking to them like you would talk to your own peers (minus the swear words of course) shows them the respect that you expect to get from them.
More importantly than anything else, understand that you have not been at this for 10+ years - so don't expect that you are going to ace every lesson. I guarantee that you will make mistakes and sometimes totally bomb lessons. What will define your character as a teacher is how well you learn from those mistakes. Personally, I have bombed a lesson and been incredibly discouraged but had an opportunity to teach the same lesson again (in the same day) and, after making adjustments to my presentation, hit a home run (meaning all students were engaged and absorbed the material presented). Remember to have as much fun as possible whenever possible, because I can honestly say it's a big reason why I made it to the finish line with a smile on my face.
a. What are some things students should do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
Obtain a syllabus/curriculum requirements for all of the classes you are going to be teaching and begin to both brush up on the content and construct lesson plans. Make the most of your observations, meaning get to know your students. This can feel a little intimidating at first but sitting in the corner observing and then taking over the class will spell certain doom for your first few weeks of classroom management.
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
Lesson plan strategies, classroom management strategies, tricks of the trade, and most importantly tips on how to deal with the anxiety/nerves.
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have done a better job during student teaching if I had ...."
Had more experience with classroom management and how to motivate students.
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
Like most secondary education student teachers I was very nervous and experienced considerable anxiety before beginning my student teaching. I feel that I was fortunate enough to not only land in a good school for a placement but to be assigned to a cooperating teacher who knew exactly what to do and say to alieviate my anxiety. In addition to that I began to learn some of the "tricks of the trade" and develop strategies that helped further my understanding of what being a good science teacher entails. There are five major ones that stand out in my mind. The first is simply being organized - paper clips, staples, binders, and folders can go along way and save you a serious headache. Basically, if you aren't organized - you're screwed. The second is the energy you bring to the classroom. This is very important because it shows students that you are comfortable, insterested in your subject, and care about them as learners. To keep your energy level up I would recommend four things: morning coffee (huge), good nutrition (including lots of H2O), exercise, and daily vitamines. The third is to establish yourself and your rules in the first few weeks of class. Due to the fact that you did not have an opportunity to do this in September, continue to enforce your cooperating teachers rules and regulations (this will help you determine your own classroom policies in the future). The students are already used to a certain set of rules - so don't upset the equilibrium. Fourth, establish a good repour with the faculty (your not their to walk around with your head down), especially with those in your content area. This can lead to an invaluable support system from which you can gain things like worksheets, quizes/tests, labs, demonstrations, and awesome lesson plans/approaches to topics. Finally, establish a good repour with your students. Remember that they are people not just empty jars for you to put information into and they have off days just like you do. Show them that you can relate to them, after all you were in their shoes too not so very long ago. Personally, I have found that talking to them like you would talk to your own peers (minus the swear words of course) shows them the respect that you expect to get from them.
More importantly than anything else, understand that you have not been at this for 10+ years - so don't expect that you are going to ace every lesson. I guarantee that you will make mistakes and sometimes totally bomb lessons. What will define your character as a teacher is how well you learn from those mistakes. Personally, I have bombed a lesson and been incredibly discouraged but had an opportunity to teach the same lesson again (in the same day) and, after making adjustments to my presentation, hit a home run (meaning all students were engaged and absorbed the material presented). Remember to have as much fun as possible whenever possible, because I can honestly say it's a big reason why I made it to the finish line with a smile on my face.